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Font Maker Sues Universal Music Over 'Pirated' The Vamps Logo (torrentfreak.com)

Posted by msmash on from the without-consent dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Universal Music Group is being sued by HypeForType, which accuses the record label of using "pirated" copies of its fonts for the logo of The Vamps. The font is widely used for artwork, promotion material and merchandising of the popular British band, and the font creator is looking for a minimum of $1.25 million in damages. The font maker has filed a lawsuit accusing the major label of using its "Nanami Rounded" and "Ebisu Bold" fonts without permission. According to a complaint, filed in a New York federal court, Universal failed to obtain a proper license for its use, so they are essentially using pirated fonts.

4 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Schadenfreude much? by sconeu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "But our piracy is different! We're a big corporation, we're allowed to do this!!!"

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    1. Re:Schadenfreude much? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You know, since they have this one act of piracy.. we should just assume their whole business model is piracy based. We should seize their domain and prevent them from doing business in the future.. you know, just like the RIAA/MPAA wants to do to anyone else.

  2. Same rules to estimate damage? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is he claiming each letter is one count of violation? Like RIAA typically does?

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    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  3. Re:details by bradley13 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What crazy-ass font license does not allow derivative works?

    I do some work that uses images in publications, not so much with fonts, but I expect that the license options are similar. Depending on the supplier, there can be all sorts of options. Internal use only. Public, but print-only, no Internet (then: how big is your print run?). Internet use, for a limited time. Internet use forever.

    The most expensive license option is usually the one that covers products destined for resale. If it's not just a marketing expense, but something you intend to make a profit on, they want more money.

    tl;dr: You absolutely must know how you intend to use something, so that you buy the appropriate license.

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